


Echoes of a Scarlet Night

by SilverKidia



Category: Tales of Berseria
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, This work assumes you have finished the game and side-quests, Will eventually have more tags, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-09 20:38:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11676642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverKidia/pseuds/SilverKidia
Summary: (This work assumes you know all game's spoilers)One night, as Velvet, Arthur, and Mao are fishing by the river, their village is burned away by bandits. The image of the scarlet night of where her sister and brother are murdered in cold-blood forever burned into her memories, she swears revenge against all these bandits, no matter what. Revenge for Laphicet, even if she has to go against all the world for it.[AU]





	1. Prologue: A Scarlet Night

**Author's Note:**

> So I don't really know how to describe this AU, it's kinda like "What if Tales of Berseria was a Tales of but not of Berseria?"  
> idk dood
> 
> English isn't my first language but I hope you enjoy, this fic might contain violence, romance, and spoilers.
> 
> For example here's a spoiler: Laphicet dies.
> 
> Oh and I have this firm belief that prologues are skippable, feel free to skip this one.

** A Scarlet Night **

_Prologue_

 

_Heavy panting._

 

She was by the river with Arthur and Maotelus.

 

_Grunting_.

 

Celica stayed home to watch over Laphicet, who had a fever.

 

_Crushed leaves._

 

Maotelus saw some unusual bugs, and his father told him that more would come at night.

 

_Screaming_.

 

Velvet was cooking up a dinner for the two “boys” while she saw the sky become scarlet instead of black.

 

_Metal clashes._

 

If they haven’t stayed at the river until nightfall…

 

_Burnt wood._

 

If only she didn’t give into their bug hunting!

 

_Black smoke._

 

She could had protect her sister and her brother!

 

_Laughter._

 

She could had killed those bandits.

 

_Whispers._

 

She wouldn’t have seen her brother and her sister, laying in their own blood, in front of their house.

 

_Yelling_.

 

But one thing was for sure…

 

_Gasps_.

 

Even if she couldn’t have her revenge today…

 

_Thud_.

 

She would do everything to get it.

 

“Laphicet…”

 

She held her brother’s hand, which had grown cold, despite the inferno that became their village.

 

“I’m so sorry…”

 

_Darkness_.


	2. A Noon That Should Never Had Come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a new spoiler: There is no Mieu in this fanfic.
> 
> And yes, the party's Laphi is Mao, in case that wasn't clear enough.

** A Noon That Should Never Had Come **

_Chapter 1_

 

Gasp.

Velvet felt like she had drown. She couldn’t catch her breath.

The first thing she saw was Arthur’s ponytail, which quickly became his worn-out visage. He held her by the shoulders, pushing her back into the mattress. Velvet looked around her, understanding she was under a tent.

“Where’s Laphicet?” she begged, realizing that she was too weak to fight back against her brother-in-law.

He did not reply.

She wanted him to tell her, even though she knew the answer. She knew they were dead. She wanted someone to tell her that she had it wrong. But even if it was a nightmare, she knew it was real.

Why he didn’t want to tell her the truth?

“I’m grateful you survived. Your injuries are minor. Thank goodness…” he finally said in a whisper. The young woman looked at him; it looked like he had been up all night long.

“Were you hurt, Arthur…?” She noticed the bandages around his arm. He raised an eyebrow, then looked down to his arm.

“It’s nothing.  I was, ah, careless. I’m sure it will heal up soon.” Velvet didn’t believe him, but since he hid the injury, she couldn’t see how severe it was. 

Careless he says… because he got enraged when he saw his wife killed?

“Wh, where’s Mao?  Is he…”

“Ah, he’s sleeping too. He took it better than I expected. He stayed up really late, but he didn’t cry. I almost wonder if he understood what happened.” Arthur looked behind him, and Velvet followed his gaze; on the other side of the tent was resting Maotelus, his arms tossed around the bed, like he would always sleep. “Maybe today he will…” Arthur sighed.

Velvet tried to get up, but Arthur stopped her. “Your back was slashed. You better rest up. Or are you hungry? It is noon after all…”

Arthur seemed lost in his thoughts, almost as if the lack of sleep and the backlash of all the night’s adrenaline broke his focus down. Velvet suggested that he sleeps too, but he refused under the pretext that the survivors needed him. She asked who the survivors were, and he described mostly children locked in basements, children that parents died to protect, with some “less courageous” adults. To her chagrin, Niko was not one of those survivors.

After Arthur left the tent, Velvet waited a moment, then sneaked out. The sky was gray. She felt to her knees, feeling nauseous. The smell of blood, burnt wood, burnt flesh… Her head was spinning, and as she threw up, it was when she realized that none of this was a bad dream. Laphicet and Celica truly were dead. She would never see her friend again. All the people she loved, killed, murdered in cold-blood, by monsters. Her life, entirely shattered by these _monsters_.

“Velvet! Are you alright?”

“Don’t touch me!”

Velvet crawled back, like a wounded dog, as she snarled at the survivor, who backed away with his hands up. “Hold on, I just want to help you!” he argued.

“You can’t. Nobody can.” She turned her back to him, crawled to remains of a wall, and tried to get back on her feet. She wobbled, almost tripped, face first, but eventually managed to stand up.

“You… don’t look so fine, Velvet.”

“How can anyone be!?” she spat at him, furious. “How can anyone be fine when everyone is _dead_!?”

“Enough Velvet,” Arthur’s voice rang, as he approach the two young survivors with a few wounded elders. It looked like they hid in the basement of a burning house, as their skin was red and black, blistered. The young woman looked up at her brother-in-law, then slid down along the wall, crawling her legs in her arms, bursting up in tears. The survivors looked down, while Arthur turned around to gather them up.

“Has anyone of you seen who the attackers were?” he asked them, with a tone that wanted to be authoritarian, but sounded exhausted.

“Bandits…” responded one of the elderly men. “They were dressed like bandits, scarves hiding their faces.”

“But they didn’t take anything,” argued Arthur.

“But they didn’t take anything,” repeated the man, still shaken by the events. “They looked like bandits, but they didn’t take anything.”

“They took our lives!” yelled Velvet, fists clenched as if she was ready to kill someone. “They took everyone’s lives!”

Arthur had a slight wobble of the head, as if he wanted to scold his sister-in-law, but instead just sighed and gestured to the survivors to ignore her. “Was there anything else you noticed?” he pressured on.

“I…” A woman tried to speak up, but hesitated against Velvet’s tears. Arthur’s stare encouraged her to speak on. “I think their goal was… was to kill all of us. They, they… They didn’t hesitate,” she explained, before her voice cracked up. Her husband put an arm around her shoulders. “They killed everyone they saw… If you didn’t came along…”

“Yes… I apologize for being so late…” muttered Arthur, his voice deep of sorrow. One could only imagine the guilt he felt for staying outside so long. One could only imagine the nightmares he would have from now on, as he could have saved his wife from a certain death.

“We are so grateful for you, Arthur. You saved all of us.”

Velvet grumbled, but didn’t speak up. Yes, it was Arthur’s idea to stay back, because of Mao’s curiosity. Yes, he probably saved what was left of the village… But he didn’t save all of them! His wife was dead. Her brother, her baby brother! He was gone, forever!

“I hope their souls forgive me,” whispered Arthur. The villagers looked shocked.

“As long as our children are still alive, there is still hope Arthur,” explained a bald man, who preserved his life by hiding. “I got the funds! I can help everyone rebuild the village!”

“The children…” muttered Velvet. What about her brother? Wasn’t he a child?

“Yes, Velvet, the children, like Maotelus,” replied Arthur, without turning back. “As long as my son is alive, I will have the courage to keep on. Anything I do now will be for him and for him alone,” he added, his voice sounding courageous, but his face looked like he was trying to prep himself up.

_What about Laphicet?_ thought Velvet, although she knew that her nephew being alive was a miracle. If he also died… she would probably would have lost her mind by now.

“How did you chase them away Arthur?” asked a young man, a young teenager that Velvet barely knew. “You handled them all by yourself, while no one else could…”

“I did not. They were already leaving. Everyone did a good job at hiding.” Arthur looked over his shoulder, glaring down at Velvet. “The only bandits that remained were those who were trying to kill Velvet.”

“Oh! Velvet, you are so lucky that your brother-in-law saved you!” replied a woman, her hands brought to her mouth. Infuriated, Velvet tried to stand up to show her a piece of her mind, but Arthur rose a hand.

“It was only because she was with me to begin with. If Celica…” He looked too pained to finish his thought.

“What about Laphi, huh Arthur?” The villagers looked at Velvet, surprised. Arthur froze for a moment, then turned around to look at her, his face stern.

“Do not accuse me, Velvet. He was also my family, I would have done anything to protect both of them.”

“He was just a child, Arthur! He had all his life ahead of him! He had dreams, he wanted to travel!”

“You know it yourself it was too late! You got there first!”

“I would have died for him! I would do anything to have him smile again!”

“Enough, Velvet!” snapped Arthur as he approach her. He seized her by the collar with his free arm, forcing her to stand up. “You and Maotelus are all what’s left of my family too! I won’t lose you too!”

The young woman tried to fight back, hitting her brother-in-law with what was left of her strengths. Even if Arthur spent all night up long and looked completely exhausted, he did not waver, as if possessed with an unholy determination. She ended up giving up, sobbing at his arm-length, and Arthur tensed down. As the brother-in-law released her, she took a few steps back, unsteady, then looked up again, her eyes burning with rage.

“I’ll kill them all.”

“Excuse me?” replied slowly Arthur, as if she was insulting him.

“I’ll find them all and I’ll do the same thing as they did to us. I’ll kill ALL of them, one by one! I’ll hunt them down through the whole world if I have to!”

“Enough Velvet. Go back to bed.”

“I’ll make them all suffer! Like they made me suffer! Like they made _Laphi_ suffer!”

“Enough, Velvet!” yelled Arthur. “You are not a child anymore, act like an adult!”

“I’ll act like the man you’ll never be, Arthur!” spat Velvet at him, waving her arms with fury. “I’ll take revenge for MY brother, I’ll hunt them for what they did to MY sister! And you’re welcome to watch me do it!”

She turned around and sprint straight ahead into the forest, ignoring the survivors’ protests.

“Velvet! You don’t even know who they are, the village needs you here! VELVET!” yelled Arthur after her, taking a few steps, but he fought himself against so. Some the adult men tried to go after her, but he blocked them with his free arm. “Let her mourn. She will come back soon enough; she can’t go far away in her condition…”


	3. The Forest's Echoes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The real spoiler is that there is no Bienfu. I don't like cute stuff.

** The Forest’s Echoes **

_Chapter 2_

Heavy panting.

She ran like she was fleeing from a certain death. She probably was. But Velvet would never admit it.

Her Laphi, her poor, poor Laphi…

Her lungs too heavy, she slowed down, eyes closed, but her other senses sharpened. This forest where she used to hunt every week, alone or with her brother-in-law… This was the first time it was so still. So dead. It was frightening; she could hear her breath so loudly, she could hear her heart pound, like if it was in her ears. An almost perfect silence, broken only by her living, tainting this dead nature.

She opened up her eyes.

The bandits set fire in the village, and since the village was in the middle of a forest… Somehow, not every tree was burnt away. But the area she was in had been consumed by the flames. There was no wildlife here. Only a strong smell persisted here. That, and the desolating view of the dead nature.

After a few steps to calm down her heart beats, she put an arm on a black trunk, then fell to her knees. Once more, she sobbed the death of her brother, of the person who mattered the most in her life, leaving a void in her soul. In the middle of these burnt grass and dead wood, she felt an ultimate despair. She couldn’t even imagine herself being ever happy again. How could she? How could she ever laugh when Laphicet was no more?

“Laphicet, I’m so sorry,” she sobbed, as she lowered her head in front of herself, slowly descending into despair. “I’m so sorry, I failed, I couldn’t save you!”

As she sobbed louder, her shoulders kept lifting up, and that rocking movement created some noise that the still forest’s echoes amplified. She hated it. That noise made her furious. She became so angry against herself, for living, for existing, for creating all these sounds, for breaking that silence. Little by little, her pain shifted from her mourning to her fury, becoming absolutely enraged by the sound her clothes and her body were making.

With a swift jerk of the wrist, she unsheathed her blade, the one Arthur custom-made for her, and began slashing, thrusting. Her master would be furious if he saw her current state, but there’s no way in hell she’d ever care about that. How could he! He saw those bastards, didn’t he? He saw how they laughed, how they cruelly slaughtered everyone, as if it was their duty, hunting every single villager they saw as if they were starving wolves! He knew that they enjoyed killing their Laphicet and Celica ― his own wife! ― without a single trace of a regret, as if they thought it was in their rights to take them away. And they are wrong. Velvet was going to show them, all of them, that they were so wrong, no salvation would ever be possible for them. And when they would beg her, she would spit in their face and slice their throats with this very blade she had on her arm, slashing, thrusting like she was doing. Like a wild animal, because that was what they were! MONSTERS!

“Whoa!” squeaked a little voice, as Velvet thrusted into the air behind her, and she froze. Laphi. Her sweet Laphi. Standing in front of her.

“Are you okay, Velvet?” asked the young blonde boy, carefully staring at the stunned woman. After a few seconds, her blade still at range, she fell to her knees. She almost killed him. She almost killed her brother! She was in no way better than these bandits!

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized, her eyes tearing up. The young boy shook his head, rejecting her apology.

“It’s okay Velvet, I was just a little surprised,” he shrugged it off. Velvet stared at his beautiful green eyes, her arm dropping to her side, as she studied her brother’s face. He was puzzled, curious by her actions, and his confused look made her remember that her brother had the same amber eyes as she did.

“Mao…” she whispered, almost disappointed. Right. Her brother was dead. Forever. There was no way he would just come back like that. He and their nephew just happened to look a lot like each other. Laphi was only one year older than Mao. Celica always cut their hair the same way, and since they had the same hair colour, it was easy to confuse them. Laphi had her sisters’ eyes, Mao’s were closer to his father…

“Arthur! Where’s Arthur?” she panicked, suddenly realizing that Mao was in the forest.

“Papa’s home. Well, I mean, at Aball, why?” answered the young boy, as if he saw nothing wrong with being outside of the village.

“Does he even know you’re here!?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t tell him,” replied Mao bluntly. “I think the villagers told him to go to sleep, I heard he stood up all night long healing people and helping them.”

“You need to go back to Aball right now!” yelled his aunt, jumping back on her feet, her face getting red.

“Huh? Why?” asked the young boy. “You went outside without anyone’s permission, why do I need one?”

“This isn’t about permissions, this is about your safety! Your father needs to know where you are at!”

“And what about you, Velvet, huh? You didn’t tell me where you were going at! That’s not fair!” he pouted, giving his aunt the image of a toddler.

“I’m going after those bandits. I’m going to avenge my brother’s death! I will kill them all!” she growled, to which Mao nodded.

“Yeah, me too! I’m coming with you, Velvet!”

“No! You can’t!” decided the aunt with a firm voice, no discussion to be done, but Mao stared back to her with the same mindset in his eyes.

“I don’t care! Nobody tells me what I can do! If you can run away, then so can I! You can’t stop me, Velvet!” and to prove his point, he stepped back, ready to dodge any catching attempt Velvet would do. On the moment, she didn’t react, as she did not expect such disobedience from the part of Arthur’s son. It was true that, unlike his uncle, he knew how to be really stubborn. While Laphicet would often protest and whine against authority, he would always reluctantly obey. As for Maotelus, he almost never went against his parents’ will, happily agreeing to anything they would say, but the instant he’d set his mind on something, he would gladly throw a tantrum to get what he wanted. Maybe that was why Arthur offered to camp by the river last night… Maybe he was scared that Mao would run into the forest by his own to look for bugs?

What irony… Mao did ran away, but for completely different reasons. And reasons that were far more dangerous.

“You can’t, Mao. You simply can’t. The world is dangerous―”

“I’ll protect you, Velvet!” he interrupted.

“It’s― no, how? How can you protect me, Mao? If monsters attack us, I might not be able to save you against them! If your father doesn’t know where you are, he can’t save us like he does all the time! This is serious, Ma―”

“I _am_ serious, Velvet,” replied the blonde boy, and by the look he threw at his aunt, she knew she couldn’t win this argument. “You can’t just go alone, Velvet, that’s not fair! Me too, I want to go, me too, I want to fight, me too, I want to help you! I want to protect you, even if you don’t want it!”

Velvet stared back at him, pained look against decisive eyes, as if she was considering her options. She lowered her eyes, running out of arguments, of reasons. Her feelings were against this, but they were also clashing against his. She felt so immature against her nephew, who had such a stronger heart than her, she could only stay frozen in the middle of the ashes.

“I can’t protect you, Laphi…”

“We’ll fight for him, Velvet!”

“I couldn’t save my sweet little brother…”

“We’ll find them, trust me! I got your back!”

“How can I even protect you? If you die too…”

“I won’t die, Velvet! I swear! I’ll protect you!”

“What am I going to do, if you die too? You’re all that’s left to me…” cried out the young woman, tears rolling down her cheeks. Taken aback, Mao gasped, as if she found a hole in his arguments. He pouted, looking for a counter-argument to reason with her. Velvet wiped her face with the back of her hand, unminding the tears that were still coming.

“It’s not just me, Velvet. If you die, it’s not just me who will be sad. Papa too. He will also be sad. There’s all three of us now. So. We both have to fight together, Velvet! For all three of us! If you die, I’ll be sad and Papa too will be sad, so I have to protect you! And you can’t stop me!”

“Are you even listening to yourself, Mao?” yelled out Velvet. “You’re only ten years old! You can’t fight! Arthur hasn’t shown you how to fight yet! It’s always has been me and him! If a monster attacks you, I have to kill it! I can’t just watch your back all the time, if I get attacked, I can’t fight for you!”

“Then I’m going by my own, then!” yelled even louder Mao, who turned around and proceeded at high pace into the forest. On the moment, Velvet was stunned, but quickly understood what was going on and proceeded to follow her nephew. She found herself running out of breath really fast, much to her concern, Mao building up more distance between them. She tried to call his name, but he ignored her, not interested in arguing with her anymore.

Suddenly, a snap pulled out a cry from her mouth, and she fell down to the ground, her face hitting a trunk. The shock of the hit on her head made her lose awareness for a moment, but the sharp pain in her leg woke her senses up fast. She tried to push her body up, but the injury in her back cut all strength away from her limbs.

“Velvet!” cried out Mao, who quickly came back to her after hearing her cry of pain. “Oh no! It’s a trap from the village’s hunters!”

“It’s not burnt!?” yelled out Velvet, thinking that in these dead woods, nothing would had survived, but she realized that metal traps had no reason to burn away. By instinct, she tried to pull away her leg from the trap, but it only made it worst.

“Hold on, Velvet! I’ll help you!”

“No, don’t! You’ll hurt yourself!” cried out his aunt, but she was unable to stop him.

“It’s okay, they showed me how to disable those things!” he reassured her, quickly and swiftly disarming the trap. He pushed her leg away and helped her roll away from it. “See Velvet? If I wasn’t around, you would have died here, so stop your whining, I’m here to protect you and you have no saying into this!”

The young injured woman curled up, the pain being too sharp. She held up her leg’s wound, feeling the hot blood over her fingers. She needed medical attention right now. There was no way she could go on like this, she wouldn’t even make it through the woods, and like Mao was saying, she would just die all alone in the forest, making all this little ‘adventure’ worthless, her death meaningless.

“I don’t want to go back to the village…” she whined, the thought of it making her miserable. She would just prove to her brother-in-law that she was weak, that he was right, that revenge wasn’t worth it and that she should just stay home. She refused to go back home. She refused to leave Laphi’s and Celica’s death unresolved like this.

“It’s okay Velvet, I brought gels.”

“You did?” she asked, her eyes brightening up. She watched the young boy rummage through his backpack, pulling out a red gel. He kneeled and applied the gel on the wound, which agglutinated with the blood, slowly dissipating into the skin to form a white barrier over it. After a few seconds, her leg was strong enough to support her weight. The gel wasn’t strong enough to fully recover the injury, but she could now walk again.

“You need me Velvet. And I also need you. If you’re not coming back home, then I’ll just follow you.”

“Thank you, Mao… You’re right. I do need you,” she replied with a hug, before standing up. “Are you still going to lead the way?” she asked on a teasing tone.

“You bet!” he replied cheerfully before running into the woods, all happy to go on an adventure with his aunt.


End file.
